Fans can attend both games of an exhibition doubleheader with the men's and women's teams for one price on Saturday night.

Konner Tucker

Oct. 30, 2012

The UTEP men's basketball team will tip-off the 2012-13 season with an exhibition game versus Southeastern Oklahoma State on Saturday at 7 pm in the Don Haskins Center.

The defending Conference USA champion UTEP women's team will take on St. Mary's (Texas) in their exhibition opener two hours earlier, at 4:30. Fans can attend both games of the doubleheader for one price. Upper reserved tickets are $8 and all other seats are $10.

The Miners placed eight players in double figure scoring in their annual intrasquad scrimmage on Saturday at the Haskins Center.

After reviewing the tape of the scrimmage, UTEP coach Tim Floyd noted that his players "Couldn't sustain effort long enough. Some of it is to be expected with new guys, and some of it is disappointing with the older guys."

Floyd also lamented the fact that his team was 13-for-27 at the charity stripe.

"We're going back to work on our free throw shooting," he said. "But overall there were a lot of things to build on, a lot of positives."

The Miners typically open a season with two exhibition games, but this year they'll only play one before getting thrown into the fire against an Oral Roberts team that won 27 games last season (Nov. 9). Instead, UTEP will play a second exhibition in late December versus Cameron University, avoiding a potential 10-day layoff between games.

"We also wanted to give [sophomore guard] McKenzie Moore a game to build on after he joined us at midterm," Floyd said.

Southeastern Oklahoma State is best known for being the alma mater of former NBA rebounding champion Dennis Rodman. The Storm was 12-17 last season and opened the 2012-13 campaign with a 103-57 loss at BYU on Friday. The Storm will also take on UTSA on Thursday in San Antonio before coming to El Paso.

"They have a great coach in Kelly Green," UTEP assistant Phil Johnson said. "He was one of the top junior college coaches at Arizona Western before going there. They will be a good test for us going into the season. These exhibitions are more about getting us right and doing what we do better, rather than preparing for our opponent."